Fault By Design
by Arakhne
Summary: Zack x Sephiroth They were doomed from the beginning, each in their own ways, destined to be caught up in the storm, swallowed by it's winds, and tossed, as rag dolls, to opposite ends of the earth. A Fault by Design.


A/N: This is actually a prelude to a much longer series that I started writing a few years ago. I'm not really happy with the storyline of it now, and wasn't planning on continuing it, but I've been reworking pieces of it recently. This has been untouched though, as of yet. Considering how reworking it goes and how the changing winds of fandom fair, I may continue this and I may not. This can be stand-alone either way - just sort of an abstract bit to stick at the beginning.

Fault by Design

_- Arakhne_

Prelude: A quiet lie.

_"Time here all but means nothing. Just shadows that move cross the wall."_

_-_

_In the darkness of the room, the only sense they could trust was that of touch, of smooth skin running against the heated flesh of the other. Of slender fingers tracing muscles, gliding over old scars as the one read the other's body like the epic story of a life written in Braille, embedded in skin. _

_Full, trembling lips slid against each other and they closed their eyes despite of their pitch black atmosphere. It would never be dark enough, never be empty enough to wash away the bits of reality that clung to their minds, their souls, binding them to a destiny that would not allow such a perfection. They came, stripped to the core, baring weaknesses, insecurities, failures, trusting in the other to lick their wounds. If not to heal, then to sooth. _

_Unawakened whispers coursed through the mind of one, just under the surface, hidden inside veins and beneath tissue, undetectable yet always present. Doom wrapped its twisted fingers around the other's soul, claiming it even before the body turned cold. Somehow, they both were aware. Somehow they knew it wouldn't last, but as humanity tends to do, they strived, pathetically, to cling to that which brought peace, even momentary, to their weathered, battle-ridden minds. _

_Vocal chords vibrated and low, soft expressions of contentment rumbled up from their chests. They wove their limbs together, lost to where one body ended and the other began. They wished to stay that way, to stay lost in the darkness and never, never be found. Entangled, they moved against each other, rolling one over the other, groping to find something that would join them together so permanently that the forces griping at them wouldn't be able to tear them away from one another. As their bodies fused into one, they begged the heavens to turn a blind eye, to allow them this. To let them remain, unseen by the world._

_The Fates looked on, apathetic. Their paths were set apart. Their feeble attempts at escaping a divided destiny set in stone would be in vain. Crystalline eyes met cerulean, and they agreed. Even if it was a lie, even if the darkness would be driven away with the coming of morning, even if it ripped them apart just to hold on, they would stay connected. The Powers That Be would have to forcibly tear them from each other, and hopefully destroy them in the process so they wouldn't have to face the consequences they knew were in store._

_A hand dug into a mess of silver strands, tangling in the silken threads of hair while fingernails scratched down a pale back, slick with sweat – they clung to each other desperately as if a passing wind would be enough to drag them apart. _

_Their breathing fell into unison as their hearts beat at wild paces in a pulsing they could feel through each other's bodies, melding into a rhythm that became the universal rule of their private peace, as gravity and the cycle of day and night is to the world beyond their four walls. Ecstasy danced between them as energy passed from one object to another, running back and forth. The gasps followed by the slow release of air as they collapsed filled the silence and they fell back down to the earth, into each other's arms. _

_The buzzing in their heads fizzed away to a calming static, yet neither could shake the impending feeling that crept into their hearts, creating a weight in their chests. Neither would speak of it, but both would dread it. Their static gave way to whispers that echoed through the shadows, prophesizing a future some part of them, hidden in the recesses of their minds, feared._

_One, created as an untouchable god, placed on a pedestal high above the other's head. _

_And never the twain shall meet. _

_A fault by design._

"_Never leave me."_

"_Never."_

* * *

Thank you! 


End file.
